ATLANTA – Players were supposed to be stretching on the field at 5:10 yesterday afternoon, and Kaz Matsui was running late.

So when he reached the field at 5:11 and saw his Mets teammates loosening up, Matsui ducked behind the throng of Japanese media and snuck onto the field, a sheepish grin on his face.

It might have been the only time over the past two days Matsui likely went unnoticed.

Twenty-four hours after Matsui’s mesmerizing major-league debut, the buzz still was resounding through Turner Field, New York and beyond. In Tampa, Hideki Matsui raved about his countryman. In Tokyo, newspapers ran three-page spreads with headlines like “HE MADE HISTORY.” Reaction everywhere was the same, no matter where or who you are.

“Unbelievable,” Koji Hirooka of Sankei Sports said.

“Unbelievable,” Jason Phillips of the New York Mets said.

No other adjective was needed. With his historic first-pitch homer and subsequent two-double, two-walk performance, Matsui had the most dazzling and auspicious debut in Mets history, perhaps in New York baseball history.

It is hard to quantify such a distinction, but when Art Howe, a veteran of 35 years in pro baseball, was asked whether he had seen a better debut, he shook his head.

“No,” the manager replied. “It’s as good as it gets.”

Down in Tampa, Hideki Matsui was equally impressed.

“I didn’t get a chance to see him hit a home run in his first at-bat, but certainly to see him hit like that left-handed, it shows what his abilities are,” the Yankees star said. “It’s very important to start off well and to have results like that at the beginning of the season. I think it leads to yourself relaxing. Fans recognize you, and that also leads to helping you just feel more comfortable.”

Hideki would know. He went 1-for-4 with an RBI in his debut last year, but like Kaz, it came on the road. When it was time for Hideki’s Yankee Stadium debut, he, too, demonstrated his flair for the dramatic, crushing a grand slam. The result was an instant love affair with New York.

“The fans didn’t really know me that well at the time, so there wasn’t much of a reaction positive or negative,” he said. “After I hit the home run in the opener, they accepted me a little bit more.”

Mets fans already are accepting Kaz, undoubtedly drooling over the prospect of finally seeing him in person when the Mets play their home opener on Monday. Quite simply, Kaz is an electric player; with the first pitch of the season, he set a tone for a team badly needing a positive one.

Before the game, Nozomu Matsumoto, Matsui’s translator, said he had a feeling something positive would happen. He approached Howe during batting practice and informed him of a trend.

“You know,” Matsumoto told the manager, “Kaz normally has a good first game.”

Afterward, Howe said, “I guess it was an understatement.”

When Matsui hit Russ Ortiz’s first pitch for his historic homer, Howe admitted to “electricity in the dugout.” It was almost as if, Howe said, Matsui “plugged us in.” The bench responded, Phillips noted, “like you’re in Little League again, cheering from the dugout.”

From the first pitch, Matsui made himself a star. He made history, and nobody can wait for the encore.

With Michael Morrissey

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Quote

“[It was] like you’re in Little League again, cheering from the dugout.” -JASON PHILLIPS

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Meet the Met

Kaz Matsui last night became the seventh Met to homer in his first at-bat with the team, the second to do so on his first pitch.